Joint military training with US crucial, says Major Jarrett

Civil/military cooperation and media officer for the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), Major Basil Jarrett, believes partnerships with regional allies are critical to boosting the country’s national security framework.

Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday at a joint defence and security seminar between the JDF and the United States-based National Defense University and William J. Perry Center of Hemispheric Defense Studies, Jarrett said that Jamaican forces cannot tackle narcotics and human trafficking on their own.

“Seminars like these are absolutely important. They really allow us to keep pace, not only with what our partners are doing, but also to change the security picture in the Caribbean. As new threats emerge, we are able to discuss, share information and perspectives, so that we can come up with cohesive strategies to deal with them. There has to be a joint approach,” Jarrett said yesterday at the JDF’s Up Park Camp headquarters in Kingston.

The seminar, which will run until Thursday, will discuss a range of topics, including human trafficking, illicit arms trafficking and violence, evolution of the illicit narcotics trade in Jamaica, and illicit finance and money-laundering schemes.